The date of December 25 to celebrate Christ's birth was chosen to conform to the old, pagan Roman holidays called "Saturnalia" and "Brumalia." The ancient Romans kept these holidays around the time of the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice. Only in the fifth century did the Roman Catholic Church order that the birth of Christ be observed on December 25, the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol, the sun god. Christmas originated at a time when the cult of the sun was particularly strong at Rome. 25, 274, Aurelian had proclaimed the sun-god principal patron of the empire and dedicated a temple to him in the Campus Martius. accepted by most scholars today, the birth of Christ was assigned the date of the winter solstice (December 25 in the Julian calendar, January 6 in the Egyptian), because on this day, as the sun began its return to northern skies, the pagan devotees of Mithra celebrated the dies natalis Solis Invicti (birthday of the Invincible Sun). The New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, says:Īccording to the hypothesis. This made it easier for the Romans to call their pagan December 25th winter solstice festival, in which they had celebrated the birth of the sun god, the birthday of the "Son of God." Sunday was the day he had worshipped the sun as his god. It is only sinners like Pharaoh and Herod who make great rejoicings over the day in which they were born into this world.ĭuring the fourth century, the emperor Constantine "converted" to "Christianity" and changed Sabbath keeping from the seventh to the first day of the week. In the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday. The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 edition, in the article "Natal Day," records that the early Catholic church father, Origen, acknowledged: Saturnalia (December 17-24) and Brumalia (December 25) continued as pagan celebrations by the Romans well into the fourth century. Many historical sources show that Christmas was not observed by Christians from Christ's time to about AD 300. I worked hard to capture the Saturnalian spirit with the poem. Io Saturnalia!Īs part of my celebrations of Saturnalia this year, I’ve written a poem in honour of the holiday. There is a lot more to ancient Saturnalia, but these key concepts will help you create your own modern-day Saturnalia festival, if you’re so inclined. Verses sometimes accompanied gifts (a tradition thought to be carried on in our greeting cards), and bad poetry is famously associated with the holiday. A day for gift-giving, but with the twist of the season: the low intrinsic value of a gift is inversely proportional to the importance of the relationship. Another example of the liberty of Saturnalia, as usually gambling was forbidden, or at least frowned upon.
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